Inflatable ball



Feb. 5 1924. Re, 15,755

R. H. TAYLOR INFLATABLE BALL Original Filed Feb. 8. 1922 jf "J9 LQ* 4,?AMI] FlEEQ/ 2f@ IPM/EVITER: uw JEL/L f by )Imam 11H51 (Mil/4 4 PMU@ATTDRNEY- lo proved inflatableball.

o other suitablematerial im `Reia'eued Feb. 5, 1924.

anx n. TAYLOR, or ROCHESTER, NEW Yonx.

INFLATABLE BALL.

lui-imi n. annee,

To all whom it may concern: f Be it known that I, Rax H. TAYLOR acitizen of the United States residing at ochester, county of Monroe,tate of New York, 5 have invented a ceitainl new and useful Imrovementin Inllatable Balls, of `which the ollowing is a s ecification,reference being had therein to t e accompanying drawings. The inventionrelates fo a new and im- It has especial reference to balls, such asfootballs, basket balls and Eballsfor mnasium purposes. Balls of thistype usua ly have a l.cover of leather or fabric within which is arubber bladder l5 which is impervious to air and which is inated to givethe ball whateverdegree of hardness is r uired. The present inventionrelates particiilarly to the bladder and to the method of combining thevalve with the bladder. One object of the invention is to provide suchva construction and combination that the stem through which the bladderis iniated extends inwardly and that the ball can be inflated toV any`predetermined de e of hardness. l

' ne feature of the invention consists in making the stem through whichthe bladder is inilated ofrubber integral with the bladder itself andextending inwardly into the $0 interior of the bladder. Another featureof.

the invention consists in permanently securing the valve stem within thesaid rubber Other features of the invention will be more particularlyset forth hereinafter and claimed at the end of the specification. Theinvention will be fully understood from the following description whentaken in connection with the accom anying drawin and the novel featurest ereof will be `vI pointed out and clearly defined in the claims at theclose of this s cication In the drawings, ig. 1 is a longitudinal'section of a ball embodying the invention. y Fi 2 is an enlargedsectional view of a portion of the bladder having the bladder stem andthe valve combined 1n accordance with the invention.

Referrin now to the drawings, at 1 is shown a b adder of thin sheetrubber or rvious to air. At 2 is shown the 0 ning or iniatin the ball,said opening surrounded y a stem 3 whic is a so ma e of rubber and isconnected with the body of the bladder and extends inwardly into theinterior ofthe.

dated November 3; 1923, Serial llo. 535,102, nled February 8, 1922.Application for reissue led December 18, 1923. Serial No. 381,440.

bladder. This stem 3 is permanently connected with the body of thebladder in such manner as to be practically integral therewith.Preferably it should be vulcanized into combination with the body of thebladder. .At 4 is a valve casing which extends inwardly into the saidrubber stem 3 and is permanently secured thereto, preferably by cementas shown at a in Figure 2 or by vulcanization. The valve employed isprefer-l ably of the Schrader type. A valve member 5 is screwed intosaid valve' casing, said member 5 and valve casing being screwthreaded'as appears in the drawings for that purpose. y

On the lower end of the valve member. 5 is a valve seat 6. The valvestem 7 passes down through the member 5 and is provided with a closuremember 8 whichis normally retained seated uponthe said` valve seat 6 toclose the valve by means of a spring 9 coiled around the stem extension10, one end of said spring beingseated against the under side oftheclosure member 8 and the lower endvbeing seated upon a slotted cradlemember 11, said cradle member 11 being seated upon the lower end 12 ofthe valve casing 4. The said stem 10 passes loosely through said cradlemember 11. The cradle member 11 is slotted to provide ports communicat-85 ing with the aperture 13 in the lower end of the valve casing, saidaperture 13opening into the lower part of the valve casing and thencecommunicating with the interior of the bladder.

Normally the closure member 8 is retained seated upon the valve seat 6,so that the bladder 1s air tight. The valve is provided with a cap 14.By .removing the cap the valve may be connected with an air ump throughwhich the bladder may be indhted, the pressure of the air when forcedinto the bladder causing the closure member 8 to be unseated to admitthe air to the bladder and as soon as the operation of the air pump isstopped the closure member 8 will immedil ately become seated by means'of the spring I10 to prevent the escape of the air.

By means of a suitable gauge of any well vknown construction the airpressure within .10|

the bladder while it is being'blown up may be determined any time andthe operation of the pump may be stopped as soon as the air pressurereaches a predetermined degree as indicated by the gauge. The operationof the pump will then be'stopped LandV as.

` the valve will be immediately closed there will be noA loss of airpressure. Thus it will be seen that the bladder may be blown' up to anpredetermined degree of pressure, and i a standard of pressure for allballs' 1 termined at anytime after the' usA - which is tapped out in amanner to ,be

endof the valve. The slit in the cover will then it is `easy `to blow upany lball to the same standard pressure. By means of -a suitable gaugethe pressure ma also bedeblown up. At 15 is shown a cover of usualformation-provided with a 'lap 16 secured to the cover; In order' tosecure the bladder. to the cover a screw washer 17 is provided threadedover the threaded exterior of the valve casing 4. The washer 1 7 isprovided with holes 18 by meansfof Which a Spanner wrench can be used toset the washer down tigIht.

v n attaching the bladder to the flap the outer end of the valve casingis thrust through an aperture 19 in the iap while the threaded washer 17is removed from the valve casing, then the said washer 17 is lscreweddown to tightl clamp the flap to the bladder 1. 'lwhe bla der is theninflated and the' cap 14 is screwed into close the then bey closed bydrawing up the lacings 20 in the usual manner.

If the rubber lstem of the bladder protruded outward there is no Way atpresent known for retaining the air in the bladder after it is blown upexcept by winding' a rubber band or string around the stem. Aftersuch aball is inflated, the stem has ,to be bent over, fastened with a rubber4band or otherwise and pushed under' the cover. -There is no w'ay ofiniatin'g it unlormly to a predetermined pressure, as it is impossibleto regulate it. By the form of construction according to m inventionabove described, it is a. very all has been vwith 'a valve having acasing permanently into' the interior of the bladder, .incombinationwith a valve having a casing secured v'to the -inner periphery of vsaidstem and rojecting some distance outside of the b adder, thev protrudingportion of said valve' Vcasing 'being screw threaded on its outerperiphe in combination withv a screw-thread-4 e was er which isseparable' from the valve casing and ,which is adapted t be screwed downon the valve casing to clamp a cover4 to the bladder. y

' 2. ,An inflated ball having a bladder' composed of thin, flexiblematerial'impervious to air and having a.k tubular stem integral `withthe bladder extending into the interior y thereof, in combination wlth avalve havin a casin secured to the inner periphery o the sai stemand'projecting for some distance outside of the bladder, a cover forenclosing having a flap' formed with a hole through which saidprotrudinstemv of the casing loosely passes, said va ve casing and cover beingseparable from each other, in combithe holein the cover Hap to permitready assembling of the bladder and the' cover, and the separation ofthe same from each other, said Washer being adapted to be screwed ontosaid valve casin' when the bladder and'cover are assemble tov clamp thesaid flap to the bladder', thereby securing 'the' cover to the bladder.

3.' n inflated ball having a bladder composed of thin flexible materialimpervious to air` and. havin a ilexible tubular stem integral withtheladder and extending into the `'nterior of the bladder, incombination secured to the inner peripher of the saidA stem andprojecting outside o the bladder, a cover forencloslng said bladderhaving a flapv attached thereto and formed with a hole through whichsaid protruding stem sim ke matter to test the pressure in the gofthe'valve casing extends, the outer porbla der by means of a gauge, asthe bladder is being inflated, and to stop the further iniiation whenthe desired pressure is reached, also to test its pressure at any timeafter it has been iniated.

What Iclaim is:

1. lAn inflated ball having a bladder composed of thin, flexible.material and having a tubular stem integral therewithextending tion ofsaid valve casing being screwthreaded, in combination with` a screw-4threaded'washer which screws upon saidv valve casing and clamps saidflap to the. bladder, thereby securingthe cover to the bladder.'v

In testimony whereof I alx my signature.

REX H. TAYLOR.

'said bladder separable therefrom .nation With a screw threaded washerwhich

